Want to Collect Market Data About Your Online Customers?
05/03/00- National Post
by Zena Olijnyk

Want to collect market data about your online customers? Running a contest is the answer, Sears discovers.

There's nothing like a contest to get people to give up information about themselves to Internet retailers. Take the example of those who entered Sears Canada Inc.'s "Cook, Clean and Cool" contest.

According to N5R.com, a Toronto based online marketing company, approximately 38,000 Canadians registered online during the eight week promotion.

By comparison, during all of 1999, Sears Canada serviced 75,000 online customers, for a total sales of $22-million. Of those who registered for the contest, 64% were new customers, which "proves the power of online promotions and contests to attract customers," said Roman Bodnarchuk, of N5R.com.

Almost 30% of the registrants were referred by friends or relatives, showing that "viral marketing" can work. And 92% filled in a survey and opted for the "permission based" part of the contest, allowing Sears to contact customers via e-mail.